Bryant Gumbel

File:Bryant Gumbel.jpg

Bryant Gumbel

Bryant Charles Gumbel (born September 29, 1948), is an American television personality for news and sports programs. He is best known for his 15-year stint as co-anchor of NBC's The Today Show. He is the younger brother of veteran sports broadcaster Greg Gumbel.

Early life

Gumbel was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the second child of parents Dunbar Gumbel and Rhea Alice LeCesne. He is of Creole descent. He attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine where he played football and baseball and was a member of the class of 1970. He was a history major and wrote sports columns for the school newspaper, The Bates Student.

Gumbel earned a liberal arts degree from Bates College and has honorary doctorates from Bates, Xavier University, College of the Holy Cross, Providence College and Clark Atlanta University.

Career

Early career

Gumbel began his television career in October 1972, when he was named a sportscaster for KNBC-TV out of Los Angeles.

NBC Sports

File:1980 World Series Trophy Presentation Ceremony.JPG

Bryant Gumbel interviews Commissioner Bowie Kuhn following the Philadelphia Phillies' Game 6 victory in the 1980 World Series.

He first worked for NBC Sports in the fall of 1975 as co-host of its National Football League pre-game show GrandStand with Jack Buck.

From 1975 until January 1982 (when Gumbel left to do The Today Show) Gumbel hosted numerous sporting events for NBC including of Major League Baseball, NCAA basketball, and the National Football League. Gumbel returned to sportscasting for NBC when he hosted the prime time coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics from Seoul and the PGA tour in 1990.

One of Bryant Gumbel's more memorable moments during his stint at NBC Sports occurred in 1982, when he was on site for the now legendary "Epic in Miami" NFL playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins. When the game was said and done, Gumbel told the viewing audience "If you didn't like this football game then you didn't like football!"

The Today Show

He spent 15 years on The Today Show with three co-hosts (Jane Pauley, Deborah Norville, and Katie Couric). His work on the Today Show earned him several Emmys and large group of fans. He is currently the second longest serving co-host of Today, serving 2 months less than Couric.

The Early Show

After stepping down from the Today Show and Dateline NBC in 1997, Gumbel moved on to CBS, where he hosted various shows before becoming the co-host of the network's morning show The Early Show on November 1, 1999. Gumbel left The Early Show in 2002.

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel

Gumbel has concentrated most of his energy recently on his duties as host of HBO's acclaimed investigative series Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (a show that he has hosted since 1995). HBO's web page claims that Real Sports has been described as "flat out TV's best sports program" by the Los Angeles Times. [1]. Also according to HBO, Real Sports has earned 15 sports Emmys, and a 2006 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for broadcast journalism, the first time in the award's history that it was given to a sports program. [2] The award was for a story called: The Sport of Sheikhs, an investigation into the exploitation of children as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates.

The Weather Man

Gumbel had a cameo apperance opposite Nicolas Cage and Michael Caine in The Weather Man, a film directed by Gore Verbinski. In the film, Gumbel co-hosts a morning show entitled Hello America which Cage's character, a depressed weatherman, auditions for.

The NFL Network

In April 2006, The NFL Network announced that Gumbel along with Cris Collinsworth would call its new package of NFL games. This is despite the fact that Gumbel unlike his brother Greg, has never called play-by-play for live sporting events before in his career.[3] Even before he called his first game for the network his status was brought into question after Gumbel stirred up controversy in his closing remarks on his HBO program on August 15 2006, in which he criticized NFL Player's Association head Gene Upshaw and outgoing NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Gumbel would later reconcile with the NFL and will retain his play-by-play job with the NFL Network.[4]

Live with Regis and Kelly

In June 2006 Gumbel performed as substitute anchor for Live with Regis and Kelly, replacing Regis Philbin and co-hosting with Kelly Ripa.

Controversies

Gumbel memo

In 1989, Gumbel wrote a memo to Today Show executive producer Marty Ryan, which was critical of other Today Show personalities. This memo was leaked to the press. In the memo, Gumbel commented that Willard Scott "holds the show hostage to his assortment of whims, wishes, birthdays and bad taste...This guy is killing us and no one's even trying to rein him in." He commented that Gene Shalit's movie reviews "are often late and his interviews aren't very good."

There was enough negative backlash in regard to Gumbel's comments toward Scott, that Gumbel was shown making up with Scott on The Today Show.

Remarks

During coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel he made the following remarks,

Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t like them and won’t watch them ... Because they’re so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won ... So if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, when we can move on to March Madness — for God’s sake, let the games begin.

• Video of Bryant's remarks about Torino

Gumbel's remarks about the lack of black athletes in the Winter Olympics oddly enough came immediately following a piece he did on the 1966 Texas Western University basketball team, which had five all black starters.

A CBS camera caught a disgusted Bryant Gumbel blurting out "What a fucking idiot" just after he wrapped up a hostile interview with Robert Knight of the Family Research Council (FRC). The incident occurred at about 7:15 a.m. ET Thursday, June 29, 2000 following Knight's appearance to defend the Boy Scout policy of excluding gays from being leaders, a policy the Supreme Court had re-affirmed the day before. Gumbel's hostile reception for Knight had followed a much less confrontational approach to a representative of Planned Parenthood who had come aboard to support the Court's ruling overturning a law which banned partial-birth abortions.

• Real Video of incident
• Salon Article on this incident
• E Channel Article on this incident

On the August 15, 2006 episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Gumbel made the following remarks about former NFL commisioner Paul Tagliabue and Player Union president Gene Upshaw and directed these comments to new commisioner Roger Goodell.

Before he cleans out his office have Paul Tagliabue show you where he keeps Gene Upshaw's leash. By making the docile head of the players union his personal pet, your predecessor has kept the peace without giving players the kind of guarantees other pros take for granted. Try to make sure no one competent ever replaces Upshaw on your watch.

In response, Tagliabue said

What Gumbel said about Gene Upshaw and our owners is about as irresponsible as anything I've heard in a long time.

Gene Upshaw as of August 21, 2006 has not commented.[5]. Gumbel's response was that:

"It's a lot like covering any story," he said. "You see what is front of you and you report on it."[6]

He make comments without thinking about them. By the NFL network hiring a laid back Chris Collinsworth and a stupid, load, arrogant,inexperienced Bryant "Malcolm X" Gumble, is not a very smart move

Awards

• 4 Emmy Awards [7]
• Frederick D. Patterson Award from the United Negro College Fund [8]
• Martin Luther King Award from the Congress of Racial Equality [9]
• Three NAACP Image Awards [10]
• Edward R. Murrow Award for Outstanding Foreign Affairs work from the Overseas Press Club, September 1984
• Edward Weintal Prize for diplomatic reporting
• Peabody Award for his reporting in Vietnam
• International Journalism Award from TransAfrica
• Africa's Future Award from the U.S. Committee for UNICEF
• Leadership Award from the African-American Institute
• Best Morning TV News Interviewer, the Washington Journal Review, 1986
• Trumpet Award of the Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
• Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for outstanding broadcast journalism for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO), December 2005 [11]

Reportedly, Gumbel has raised over $8 million for the United Negro College Fund.

Trivia

• Having grown up in Chicago, Gumbel has acknowledged being a diehard Chicago Cubs fan. In 2003, Gumbel was interviewed on the ESPN special The Babe and the Billy Goat: Reverse the Curse.
• During the second season of Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show, Gumbel was referenced by comedian Paul Mooney. In a skit, Mooney was playing a psychic named Negrodamus when he was asked the question, "Why do white people like Wayne Brady so much?" Negrodamus responded "White people love Wayne Brady because he makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X." This became one of the most famous lines from the show, and eventually led to an episode where Wayne Brady retaliates for the comment.
• Both Bryant and Greg Gumbel are contained within the Family Guy episode "If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'" as 'Bike Cops' in a fictional television show, Gumbel 2 Gumbel. Peter Griffin and his son Chris attempt to get the show back on the air by faking a terminal illness in his son to convince a Make-A-Wish Foundation-type charity named the "Grant-A-Dream Foundation" to have the show put back on air.
• Bryant was a guest star on the comedy series, Seinfeld. He is featured on the episode, The Puffy Shirt, in which he appears as the host of The Today Show. He comments on Jerry's puffy shirt, in which he unknowingly agreed to wear, claiming that its odd and puffy like a pirate. This event then leads to Jerry's outburst on his opinion of the shirt.

External Links

• Is Bryant Gumbel a Racist? SBN's look at Bryant Gumbel